January 25, 2024 at 05:06PM
The airline industry faces pervasive challenges such as delayed flights, lost luggage, and cybersecurity incidents. The complex mix of legacy and new technology in aviation creates security vulnerabilities, with cyber events on the rise. To address these issues, Cathay Pacific replaced its outdated infrastructure with a SASE solution, enhancing security and modernizing its operations.
Meeting Notes Summary:
1. Challenges in Aviation Industry:
– Complaints about delayed/cancelled flights, lost/damaged luggage, and customer service.
– Increasing cybersecurity incidents due to legacy and new technology, creating a complex and difficult-to-secure environment.
– Reliance on multiple service providers for operations, with supply chain issues impacting aircraft and passengers.
– Growth in aviation-related cybersecurity events, including data breaches and attacks on airlines like British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and others.
2. Cathay Pacific’s Response:
– Recognizing the need to modernize technology operations and address growing cybersecurity challenges.
– Replacing aging infrastructure with a cybersecurity-integrated solution.
– Switching from a 40-year-old MPLS network to a cloud-based technology to manage modernized infrastructure and enhance security.
3. Adoption of SASE Solution:
– Selection of secure access service edge (SASE) to provide data-centric capabilities and end-to-end visibility across VPNs, SD-WANs, and cloud resources.
– Importance of SASE’s zero-trust security model in controlling devices, identity-based access, and networkwide security protection.
– Emphasis on using SASE to optimize security efforts and improve user experience, particularly as the company moves towards remote working.
4. Path Forward with SASE Implementation:
– Conscious decision to choose Aryaka’s unified SASE after years-long proof-of-concept experiments.
– Prioritizing features such as secure web gateway, role-based policies, safe browsing, and user activity controls on unsanctioned apps.
– Pilot phase implementation underway, testing deployment, policy management, and performance across company sites and airports.
– Plan to integrate SASE with over 400 applications in the public cloud and change traffic routing to improve operational efficiency and security.
Cathay Pacific’s move to integrate SASE represents a significant step in addressing the challenges of the aviation industry and enhancing cybersecurity in a modernized infrastructure.